Obituaries for 2016

[ABX]

Blues guitarist legend Lonnie Mack

http://blogs.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/pop-noise/46490-rip-blues-guitar-great-lonnie-mack

Blues guitar great Lonnie Mack, who visited Pittsburgh many times in his heyday, has died at age 74, according to Alligator Records.

The guitarist born near Cincinnati first hit the charts in 1963, influenced by T-Bone Walker and Merle Travis. He was noted as an influence on Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, among others.

[mystery-ak]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3554087/Prince-dies-aged-57.html

Prince 'overdosed a week ago on Percocet taken for a chronic hip problem': Star suffered for years 'but refused to get an operation because of his Jehovah's Witness faith'

    Prince overdosed on the opiate Percocet six days before he died and had to be given a 'save shot' sources said
    Drug is a highly-addictive painkiller that contains acetaminophen and oxycodone and is used to treat acute pain
    Friends said he had long-term hip issues but was rumored to refuse surgery because he was a Jehovah's Witness
    Pop superstar's autopsy began today, although the results of the investigation could take weeks, officials said
    Prince's private plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, so he could be rushed to hospital last week
    The 57-year-old music icon was then seen on Wednesday at a Walgreens pharmacy looking 'frail and nervous' 
    He died aged 57 at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota on Thursday after being found unresponsive in an elevator
    Legendary singer and songwriter sold more than 100million records in his sparkling 40-year music career
    Prince was known for his sexually charged lyrics and was romantically linked to a number of male and female stars
    See more of the latest news updates on Prince as he is found dead aged 57 at his Minnesota estate

By Ollie Gillman and Kelly Mclaughlin For Dailymail.com

Published: 10:12 EST, 22 April 2016 | Updated: 13:09 EST, 22 April 2016



Prince overdosed on Percocet he was taking for a chronic hip problem he had been suffering for years after refusing to have an operation because of his strict Jehovah's Witness faith, sources have claimed.

The pop superstar died yesterday aged 57 and is said to have overdosed on the highly addictive painkiller six days earlier, TMZ reported.

Prince had used a cane to help him walk for years after causing irreparable damage to his hips with his lively stage performances.

He had long needed a double hip replacement, but was rumored to have turned down surgery because it would require a blood transfusion - which conflicted with his religious beliefs.

The Purple Rain star took so many Percocet pills that he had to be given a 'save shot' after his private plane made an emergency landing so he could be rushed to hospital last Friday, sources close to the star claimed.

Meanwhile, a source told People that Prince had been battling an 'ongoing illness'.

'The people close to him were very concerned for his health and indicated he'd been undergoing treatments which made his immune system weak,' the source said.

Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier told CBS that Prince did have surgery on his hips but was still struggling with pain, as well as having issues with his ankles.

'The hip and ankle issues were a problem for him for so long, and for a man who loved to move and dance so much, it really bothered him,' Frazier said.

News of the alleged overdose came as an autopsy into Prince's death opened, although its results could take weeks.

Last night pictures emerged of Prince walking out of a Walgreens pharmacy just 15 hours before he was pronounced dead. It is not known whether he was picking up Percocet or any other prescription.

Prince's private plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, on Friday after he performed in Atlanta so he could be rushed to hospital.

Though his representatives said he was battling the flu, multiple sources told TMZ that doctors gave him a 'save shot', which is usually given in dire circumstances to drug overdose victims.

The sources said doctors advised Prince to stay at the hospital for 24 hours, but when he wasn't given a private room, he and his representatives decided to leave. When he left the hospital, Prince 'was not doing well', the sources added.

He was released three hours later and made an appearance at a party in Minnesota the next day, telling fans to 'wait a few days before you waste any prayers'.

Prince was then found unresponsive in the elevator at his suburban Paisley Park estate in Minnesota at 9.43am EST on Thursday and was pronounced dead less than 30 minutes later.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3554087/Prince-dies-aged-57.html#ixzz46a3huWJu

[mystery-ak]

That's too bad. I understand that pain and you will do almost anything for it to stop.

[geronl]

When in the world did he become a JW, because his career ..... yeesh

[jmyrlefuller]

When in the world did he become a JW, because his career ..... yeesh

2001.

[geronl]

2001.

thanks

[ABX]

This actually does clarify some of the conflicting stories about the OD but also refusing medical treatment due to being JW. It wasn't an illict drug over dose, but prescription pain killers can be just as bad. He probably refused surgery due to getting a blood transfusion, something JWs oppose so he was managing a lot of pain.

[flowers]

Dang was hoping the drugs wasn't true.

[DCPatriot]

This actually does clarify some of the conflicting stories about the OD but also refusing medical treatment due to being JW. It wasn't an illict drug over dose, but prescription pain killers can be just as bad. He probably refused surgery due to getting a blood transfusion, something JWs oppose so he was managing a lot of pain.

I'm sure that many habits he 'suffered' under, were verboten to Jehovah's Witnesses.

Gimme a break.   

It's Michael Jackson redux.   Nobody around the man was able to utter a warning or say "HELL NO!"

[truth_seeker]

Wait for the autopsy. If you have chronic pain it is NOT a moral failing, to consume prescription pain meds.

Rush Limbo did.

[flowers]

Wait for the autopsy. If you have chronic pain it is NOT a moral failing, to consume prescription pain meds.

Rush Limbo did.

I know......just sad to see. He was young.

[Wingnut]

Chevy's tribute to Prince

[Wingnut]

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Love this one.  2004 RnRHOF

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y&feature=youtu.be

[flowers]

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Love this one.  2004 RnRHOF

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y&feature=youtu.be

Beautiful.  Watching him play a guitar was a thing of beauty.

[Wingnut]

Beautiful.  Watching him play a guitar was a thing of beauty.

He rocked it on that one.  Loved the ending!   

[mountaineer]

Beautiful.  Watching him play a guitar was a thing of beauty.

That was fantastic.

[Wingnut]

That was fantastic.

Wasn't it.  I loved the devil may care attitude!

[mountaineer]

The Death Of Prince And The Death of Jesus
Despite reveling in sexually explicit material, Prince also wrote more explicitly Christian lyrics than any mainstream musician of that era not named Bono.
By Hans Fiene
April 22, 2016
The Federalist

In 2004, I went to see Prince at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis during his “Musicology” tour. His set was somewhere around a 60/30/10 split of the hits, deep cuts, and material from his new album, featuring an early, riotous performance of “Let’s Go Crazy,” a haunting acoustic version of “Little Red Corvette” mid-show, and a soaring, 20-minute encore of “Purple Rain” featuring a guitar solo that tore the feels out of your heart with thick, screaming notes forged from electrified steel vibrations and pure catharsis, notes that made you wonder why, if sounds like this were possible, people wasted their time listening to anything else.

I’m nowhere near a concert junkie, but I’ve seen my fair share of high-profile artists on stage, many of whom are known for the quality of their live shows. If I were to rank the best live acts I’ve ever seen, there’s Prince in first place and there’s “it doesn’t matter because no one else is even close to Prince” in second.

If I remember correctly, I paid around 70 bucks for my ticket to that show, but if I’d paid over a thousand, and all Prince had performed was that encore of “Purple Rain,” I wouldn’t have felt an ounce of buyer’s remorse.
Falling in Love with Prince

Although I was always aware of Prince’s music growing up, I didn’t really become a fan until I bought an $8 copy of “Purple Rain” at a used CD store when I was in high school in the late ’90s. Growing up as the son of a conservative Lutheran pastor in a conservative Indiana town surrounded by relatively conservative Hoosier friends, I never found anyone who was terribly eager to devour both discs of “Sign O’ the Times” with me on a road trip or to accept my “try to hit all the high notes in ‘Kiss’ without developing vocal nodules” challenge. Likewise, years later, when I decided to become a conservative Lutheran pastor myself, I didn’t find many more Prince aficionados at the seminary or in my congregations.

This is, of course, something I understand. Prince’s penchant for pumping his music full of funk and jazz influences wasn’t terribly appealing to many red-state rockers who were raised on a diet of Mellencamp and didn’t know exactly what to do with a sequin-clad pretty boy who spent half his albums falsetto-wailing an octave and a third above middle C. For attentive, Christian parents like my mother, who mostly become aware of Prince during Tipper Gore’s PMRC hearings, it made sense they didn’t want to give a fair shake to Prince’s indisputably brilliant “The Beautiful Ones” when the indefensibly filthy “Darling Nikki” was lurking just two tracks away.

But, for whatever reason, I hurdled the roadblocks that prevented so many who shared my background from embracing him. If there’s anything I wish to impart to those who didn’t join me in the purple fan club, it’s this: Even if you can’t stand the genres Prince performed, and even if you were understandably put off by his outlandish and often times obscene persona, it is an indisputable truth that Prince’s level of talent was not of this world.

For whatever reason, when God knit Prince Rogers Nelson together in his mother’s womb, he saw fit to give Prince more musical talent than virtually every other human being on the planet, bestowing on him the third-largest vocal range in pop music history, the ability to play countless instruments fluently, and a deadly command of the hook. In fact, Prince was such a prolific songwriter that he had a literal vault filled with unreleased material. (Before any haters assume all of these tracks must have not been worth releasing, remember that Prince essentially threw away arguably his greatest song before Sinead O’Conner rescued it from the waste bin and gave us one of the best female vocals of the 1990s.)
Most artists would never have been able to upstage either James Brown or Michael Jackson at any point in their careers. Prince managed to best the both of them on the same night.

Likewise, most artists would never have been able to upstage either James Brown or Michael Jackson at any point in their careers. Prince managed to best the both of them on the same night. For anyone still unable to see past aforementioned sequins and soprano screaming, close your eyes and listen to Prince casually rip off one of the best guitar solos you’ll ever hear. Eric Clapton is widely considered to be among the greatest axmen ever, and his solo on the original recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is likewise considered one of his greatest feats, which means Prince’s solo at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony is the musical equivalent of Rocky Balboa winning the heavyweight title by ripping Apollo Creed’s arms off and punching him to death with his own fists.

However, Prince didn’t always use his God-given talent to the glory of the one who gave it, as his countless songs glorifying lust and promiscuity made abundantly clear. Throughout most of his career, Prince had a regular habit of taking the brilliance his creator gave him and pumping it into throwaway, pornographic songs that, for late-to-the-Prince-party Christian fans like me, was about as disappointing as if poetry lovers discovered that, in between scribing some of the greatest poems in American history, Robert Frost wrote a thousand dirty limericks for Hustler magazine.

Despite reveling in the sexually explicit material so common in pop and rock music from the late seventies through the nineties, Prince also wrote more explicitly Christian lyrics than any mainstream musician of that era not named Bono, composing numerous tracks that praised the God who made him and that confessed the atonement of Jesus Christ, even if they confessed it in ways that wouldn’t exactly have passed doctrinal review in most orthodox Christian churches.

Likewise, while many rock stars of his era were notorious for their illicit exploits with female fans, one old Prince urban legend says that he would occasionally gather groupies together, sit them down on the floor, and read the Bible to them until they got fed up and left. I don’t have any proof of this, but considering Prince’s lifelong habit of challenging people’s preconceived notions of him, it’s not hard to imagine him, with a smirk, reading through 1 Corinthians while a handful of scantily clad women stormed out of his dressing room, irritated that their plan to hook up with a rock star had ended with an unexpected encounter with Jesus.

For Christians who prayed God would let them stop loving the sins Prince would frequently celebrate in his music, it was often frustrating to see Prince thank God for inspiring him to write music that helped inspire the “parental advisory: explicit lyrics” sticker. But the diminutive genius from Minnesota always left us with enough hope that he’d one day put his lust behind him and quit diverting his God-given talent away from nobler subject matter.

Those hopes were realized in 2001 when Prince finally jettisoned the dirtier elements of his repertoire from live shows after becoming a Jehovah’s Witness, but for orthodox Christians, it was a rather pyrrhic victory. We were certainly glad to see Prince finally embracing Ephesians 5:3-5, but hated to see it happen at the cost of him rejecting everything the Bible taught about the Trinity, the nature of Christ, and the salvation that comes to us by grace alone.

The angels in heaven certainly rejoice when a sinner turns away from his lust because he believes that Christ has freed him from that transgression. The angels weep, however, when a sinner stops committing the same sin because he’s submitting again to the yoke of slavery, thinking that he needs to open heaven with his own works because he believes that the blood Christ shed at Calvary was insufficient to win his salvation.

Speaking of the crucifixion, I don’t know if Prince stopped performing it post-conversion, but the song from “Sign o’ the Times” that was most at odds with Prince’s newfound confession of faith wasn’t actually “If I Was Your Girlfriend” but the Good Friday-centered track “The Cross.” As you may have learned if you’ve ever talked with any Jehovah’s Witnesses who have knocked on your door, they are quite insistent that Jesus didn’t die on a cross, but on a “torture stake.” Likewise, Prince’s 1987 confession that eternal life comes through faith in Christ alone was certainly at odds with the Watchtower’s “Jesus started it, you finish it” doctrine of salvation.

But if Prince was considering his countless compositions in his final moments, that’s the song I hope was dearest to his heart. In his last days, I hope Prince retained his rejection of his indecent compositions but returned to the God he confessed in his less outwardly righteous days and trusted that that everything his Father required of him was credited to him through faith in the bleeding hands of Jesus.

As I mourn the death of one of the twentieth century’s greatest talents, I hope he remembered the love of the triune God proclaimed to him in the Scriptures—love manifested for all the sinners of this world, even those who wrote “Darling Nikki,” when the Father’s only begotten Son died for their sins and rose again for their justification. As Prince Rogers Nelson drew his final breath, I hope he took the advice he gave the world nearly 30 years ago when he contemplated the final breath of Jesus Christ and sang, “black day, stormy night / no love, no hope in sight / don’t cry, he is coming / don’t die without knowing the cross.”


Hans Fiene is a Lutheran pastor in Illinois and the creator of Lutheran Satire, a series of comical videos intended to teach the Lutheran faith.

[HAPPY2BME]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html

By Ryan Parry In Chanhassen, Minnesota and Emma Foster In Coachella Valley, California and Martin Gould In Chanhassen, Minnesota, For Dailymail.com
Published: 10:52 EST, 23 April 2016

EXCLUSIVE: Prince's former drug dealer tells how the legend spent $40,000 at a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches - highly addictive opioid pain killers - for 25 years



    Prince's former drug dealer, who asked to be named only as Doctor D, revealed the full extent of the late-star's secret drug addiction
    Doctor D revealed the singer would spend up to $40,000 a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches
    Prince regularly bought drugs from Doctor D between 1984 and 2008
    The dealer said the musician suffered crippling stage fright and could not get on stage and perform without the drugs
    Doctor D said: 'He was always a pill man - that's why nobody ever saw him do drugs. He never shot up, or snorted cocaine'
    Prince was found dead on Thursday at his home in Minnesota just days after sources claimed he overdosed on the opiate Percocet

Prince's former drug dealer has revealed the full extent of the late-star's secret drug addiction - telling how the superstar was hooked on powerful opiates for over 25 years.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online, the performer's long-time dealer - who asked to be named only as Doctor D - revealed the singer would spend up to $40,000 a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches - both highly addictive opioid pain killers.

Prince, who was found dead on Thursday at his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was secretly cremated in an intimate ceremony at a nondescript funeral home in Minneapolis shortly after an autopsy was completed on Friday, Radar reports.

Prince's sister Tyka Nelson and another family member reportedly spent a few minutes saying goodbye at the First Memorial Waterston Chapel before the musician was cremated.

His death came just days after sources claimed he overdosed on the opiate Percocet.

Doctor D said the musician, who he described as 'majorly addicted', regularly bought drugs from him between 1984 and 2008.

The dealer, often to the stars, said Prince suffered crippling stage fright and could not get on stage and perform without the drugs - but had a phobia of doctors so could not obtain a prescription legally.

Tragically, Doctor D suggests it could have been a physician that unknowingly contributed to Prince's death - by prescribing strong pain killers to the singer for his hip condition without knowing the extent of his secret opiate addiction.

[HAPPY2BME]

25 years worth of inspired dope music.

[jmyrlefuller]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html

By Ryan Parry In Chanhassen, Minnesota and Emma Foster In Coachella Valley, California and Martin Gould In Chanhassen, Minnesota, For Dailymail.com
Published: 10:52 EST, 23 April 2016

EXCLUSIVE: Prince's former drug dealer tells how the legend spent $40,000 at a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches - highly addictive opioid pain killers - for 25 years

Yeah, SURE he was his drug dealer. And I'm Roland the headless Thompson gunner.

[Free Vulcan]

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Love this one.  2004 RnRHOF

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y&feature=youtu.be

Dude...he did everything short of lighting that guitar on fire. He grabbed the torch Jimi put down.

[Wingnut]

Dude...he did everything short of lighting that guitar on fire. He grabbed the torch Jimi put down.

 

I know.  It was epic!

[mountaineer]

Wouldn't a blood transfusion be highly unlikely during a hip replacement surgery? Perhaps it's just the possibility of one that makes the JWs nervous. 

[Sanguine]

Dang was hoping the drugs wasn't true.

Yeah, me too.